The best people in life are free

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Melita’s eyes narrowed over her glass as Flora admitted to meeting with Jack afterwards; her nose wrinkling at the other implications surrounding it. The Captain was a difficult force on his best days, of which one might ascertain were in stark rarity – wondering if he was yet another that should’ve been left to his own devices. He was always going to be petty and cruel, and while revenge could be sweet, there’d only be so many times before something truly unfurled and unleashed and unraveled. When no one else seemed to want to seek out revenge, her nose wrinkled. The whole family seemed to be a weird lot; beholden to themselves and no one and believing they could do whatever they want. “So did you ban him?” she inquired instead, not even traipsing over the muck and mire of her animosity with Nova.

Calypso and the rest of the lot with their strange vendettas was something she shook her head at; because at least, with Melita, no matter how small the feud, one could ascertain why she held hostility towards them. Minor infractions, especially now, with bar destruction over singular dates and family departures, seemed bizarre coming from a time where they were all fighting to ensure parasitic monsters didn’t take over their world. “Sounds like they’re all a piece of work.” From Colt’s additions to Flora’s issues, by and large the genetics seemed to be deranged.

Colt’s murmur brought an arch to her brow, but she didn’t comment on those aspects. The way they paralleled Soh’s with Koa made her sigh instead, unfurling a long breath she hadn’t meant to hold. She liked the Dragoon as a friend and someone to bully, but it seemed his relationships weren’t easily fostered and maintained. “And I think that’s okay,” the Honeybee offered in response. To no longer strive and try and work so hard when it wasn’t matched on the other side.

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Sohalia

And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
All around the world was waking, I never could go back

Somehow the conversation had veered away from Melita's date and Colt's man problems to Flora's doomed meeting with her ex-boyfriend, and Soh wasn't quite sure how they'd gotten here. It was true that Jack and his family seemed to be deranged at best - though she had quite liked Nova, back before all of this went down - but getting Flora riled up when they were supposed to be relaxing brought out something protective in Soh. "Well, they're gone now from Torchline, at least," she said. "So maybe you don't have to worry about them anymore."

She was, perhaps, less pleased when the conversation shifted to her and her problems, but she was pleasantly surprised by the support she found among the other women. Flora reached for her, and Soh shot her a grateful smile that didn't quite reach her eyes as she took the newly-refilled champagne flute. She was confident in her decision, but it still stung to have spent so long trying to make something work only to have it never really get off the ground in the first place. "Thank you," she said, her gaze flicking from Colt to Melita before settling back on her champagne. "It's just... it's been years spent trying to force something to work when it just... never did." And maybe that was what hurt the most: knowing that she might have missed her chance for something amazing in the time she spent pining.

Cause all the walls of dreaming, they were torn wide open
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken

you can call me honey if you want

Flora tilts her head slightly at Colt, something in the rancher’s words catching her attention a beat too late, as though a thread in the conversation has snagged and she’s only just noticed it. "Wait," she says, lifting her brows. "Why did Vesper leave?" The question lands easily enough, curious rather than prying, and she rolls a grape between her fingers as she waits, though Colt’s speculation about defending Jack draws a soft, rueful exhale from her. "That’d be real funny," she says with a small shake of her head, a dry laugh brushing through the words. "Considering the only reason any of them exist is because Jack made a deal with Safrin so the Ark would fly." She tosses the grape into her mouth, crunching through it thoughtfully. "His kids were basically the fine print."

Her gaze drifts to Melita when the Honeybee circles back to the practical question, and Flora’s lips purse briefly before fluttering open in a quiet sigh. "No," she admits, shaking her head. "I didn’t ban him." A smirk slowly creeps across her face though, the expression turning sly as she lifts her glass. "But," she adds lightly, [asy]"I did learn a thing or two from him while we were together." The champagne glints in the dim light as she tilts the glass slightly. "I think I negotiated a deal that’ll keep him out of my hair for good." The confidence fades just a fraction as she lowers the glass again, her voice dropping a notch softer, almost thoughtful. "I did feel bad when he up and left Torchline, though," she murmurs. "It’s not like the place isn’t big enough for both of us." Her shoulders rise in a small shrug before she takes another sip, letting the bubbles chase the lingering sentiment away.

Across the blanket Sohalia’s confession settles deeper into the room than the gossip ever had, and Flora’s expression warms immediately as she glances toward her friend, the earlier humour softening into something steadier. "Things work out the way they’re supposed to," she says gently. Her eyes flick briefly toward Melita, then back to Sohalia, a mischievous spark returning as the weight of the moment lifts. "I mean, how long did the two of you hate that I was with Jack?" The question hangs there only long enough for the tease to register before she lifts her glass again, the grin widening. "Because now I'm happier than I've ever been. Sometimes..you just gotta go through things." Returning her gaze to Soh, the Doubletake smiles. "I promise this feeling isn't all there is."

Tell me I got something to believe in'

Not expecting the focus to narrow back on Vesper as it did with Flora’s attention, Colt is arrested for a moment by the query. She tilts her drink back to consider. Such a simple question on the surface, but she wonders which strand she ought to pick up and offer as an explanation. ”Mm, he first went to Hollowed Grounds for work,” which is about as much as she’s willing to divulge on that topic, not that she knows too much more. ”That’s where he turned… different.” The one bump between them she’s never quite been able to smooth out, no matter how many times she replayed the memory on the walls. It’s stopped hurting so acutely a while ago, after she’d traced the argument more times than she’d admit, trying to make better sense of it. Now that particular moment doesn’t sit like a wound, just a mystery she can’t fully solve, red lines ending up in dead ends and question marks.

She swirls her glass, watching the bubbles with an interest to keep her from folding into deeper crevices where she’s haunted still. ”Suppose distance does that,” she shrugs off, trying not to get into the weeds of it all again. ”We ended there.” Which time Vesper left, might have been the better question to ask Flora, or maybe they really are all one and the same, dragged out over seasons like a goodbye she’d been too stubborn to hear. ”Ran into him later at the Greatwood. Not sure if he’s staying there now or…” She trails off with a sigh, rolling her neck and glancing back at Flora pointedly. She doesn’t care, or is pretending not to. ”Haven’t seen him here in King’s End since Longnight though.” Maybe he’d been around and just staying out of sight, she doesn’t know any more what he’s doing, and she’s stopped trying to figure it out after literally losing all her hair over it.

As for the deal Jack made that created them, wouldn’t be the first time a man that claims he doesn’t want something ends up having it grow on him. She’s seen plenty a cowboy complain about a kitten, only to find them snuggled up together time and time again. ”Maybe that’s how it started, but when the fine print starts walking and talking, seems it starts to mean a bit more.” Maybe Safrin knew the outcome all along. ”Jack certainly didn’t help me track down Vesper when I wanted to,” she offers coolly, sipping at her drink again. ”They lived on his ship for a while, too, or Vesper did. Dunno what they’re doing these days, but there’s more than a contract between them all now if I had to guess.” So, be careful she implies again with a glance at all the women gathered. The Marins might be stepping into their power still, but Colt does not doubt they will continue to find their stride in that manner, and she sees the way they’re all knotted together, finding power in numbers at the very least, not to mention the potential inclusion of their mother.

Tension has crept back into her spine, the effects of brushing across rusted memories too many times in short succession, and she finds herself suddenly in great need of the massages they’re due. Swapping off cheese to fruit, Colt settles back on a lounge, chewing on her own handful of grapes as she follows the continued conversation. Wisdom is offered in various amounts by various mouths, and Colt can only lift up her glass in a quiet cheers of agreement, despite needing to hear it all herself, and wishing she'd been told much the same many years prior.

Colt

Tell me that you'll love me 'til you leave me

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Melita took another long sip of her drink, absorbing the gossip and information with either the glint of a smile or a mind spinning all sorts of webs. Jack and crew, amidst family, all gone from Torchline, but not banned, the Ark flying over the Safrin child clause, and negotiated deals. Truth be told, even if Flora had tried to have it so Jack was exiled, there probably would be great difficulty in holding it to those lines and tethers – between old feelings and possible strikes back in retribution. “That’s true, but he seems to be the one with the problem, so…,” she shrugged, as if to say it was his to sort and deal with, and not by some means of real petty shit. “Anyway, I’m very glad you’re out of his orbit.” As she’d voiced before, but gave a little cheers with her drink towards Flora just the same. And maybe a touch of avoiding the Marins in the back of her head.

Vesper’s predilections might’ve been as dramatic as his father’s, or his mother’s, but listening to Colt’s explanation had her mightily relieved that Iskra lacked the mercurial, temperamental bout. While the Halovian might’ve been melancholic, she more than made up for the moody convictions – capricious day in and day out. Tilting her head at the rancher, she offered a pittance of altering the subject. “So what are you up to now?” Beyond rodeos.

Sohalia and the saga with Koa though had sharpened and shaped into something tragic, but maybe necessary, when it came to figuring out those drawn lines, where things had gone wrong, and the growth from all the heartache. Which, yeah, fuckin sucked, but the Luminary was young. If not a little jaded from the experience. Plucking at a few grapes, she curled further across her cushion, tucking her knees against her chest. “Yeah, bound to be something better out there. Even if it takes a while. Now you know what you don't want, at the very least.”

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Sohalia

And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
All around the world was waking, I never could go back

Gossip flew, and Soh did her best to keep up. The only Marin that she knew well was Nova, and she had somehow managed to stay largely out of the line of fire during this particular game. Calypso and Vesper she'd met, of course, and Jack she both knew and disliked, but the exact ties between them and the terms of their existence had been beyond her. The more that she learned, the more her brow furrowed as she sipped on her champagne. It might not directly impact her, but...

Flora was quick to dispel any concern that Soh had, confident that she had gotten rid of Jack for good. And, knowing what Soh did about Flora and Kaisel, she had no concerns that there would be any backsliding. Still, it might be easier for her best friend if Jack simply... disappeared.

Colt managed to talk about Vesper, though it wasn't unnoticed by Soh that she needed quite a few drinks to get through the conversation. She said nothing, simply making a mental note that the wounds the man had left must have been fresh. She could understand; she'd needed more than one stiff drink herself while pining over Koa. At least she'd come to terms with her own confession enough that it seemed to have scabbed over in her mind.

Melita had managed to escape unscathed where gossip was concerned, with the other women largely leaving her alone about her date. The redhead continued to discuss everyone else's drama, offering up wisdom and questions as they went along.

For Soh's part, she plucked a few grapes from a basket and popped them in her mouth as she considered. "Mm, that's true," she said to Melita, then grimaced. "I know I don't want a bunch of back and forth. No more of this will-they-won't-they nonsense." She waved a hand dismissively. "I know that things will work out. This sucks, but I'm not... sad, exactly." She shrugged, not sure how to explain that she was just regretting that it had taken her so long to see what was probably plain as day to everyone else.

Cause all the walls of dreaming, they were torn wide open
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken

you can call me honey if you want

Flora’s nose wrinkles as she listens, head tipping slightly to the side as if she’s trying to rearrange the pieces into something that makes sense and coming up short. "I didn’t even know Vesper had a job," she says lightly, the comment tossed out with a faint huff of disbelief before her attention settles more fully on Colt again. There’s something in the way Colt explains it—fragmented, half-finished, like a story that keeps circling the same place without ever quite landing—that pulls the humour clean out of Flora’s expression. She watches her for a moment, quiet in a way that’s rare for her, before her gaze softens. "I hope you know you’re better off without that in your life," she adds more gently.

Her attention drifts briefly back to the broader mess of Jack and his children, and she gives a small, dismissive roll of her eyes, shaking her head as if there’s no point even trying to untangle that knot any further tonight.

Before Colt can fully pivot into Melita’s question, a soft knock sounds at the door, and one of the House of Midnight staff peeks in, voice bright and professional as she announces that it’s time for their massages. Flora’s entire expression lights up instantly, whatever lingering heaviness there was dissolving like sugar in champagne. She looks between the three of them, eyes widening with barely-contained excitement.

"TBC," she says, flashing Colt a knowing wink as she reaches down to offer Sohalia a hand up, tugging her gently to standing. Snagging one last flute of champagne from the picnic as she passes, Flora turns toward the door with a grin that’s all anticipation and mischief, robe swaying around her legs as she heads out into the hall, ready to trade heartbreak for lavender oil and temporary oblivion.

~FIN